Minnesota tax cuts, medical marijuana, bonding to dominate final days

Minnesota legislators will head into the final week of the 2014 Legislature on Monday with much of their work done and only a few issues left to resolve.

"I think we're in pretty good shape to end the session early," Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said Friday.

The constitutional deadline for adjournment is May 19, but Bakk predicted lawmakers will complete their work and go home "sometime next week."

House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, is less optimistic about adjourning early. "I've been here for 11 years, and we've never finished before the last day," he said.

Only four or five bills remain on Bakk and Thissen's "must-do" lists. Both said lawmakers must pass a bill legalizing medical marijuana, plus a public works bonding bill, a second tax-cut measure and an appropriations package.

Thissen said they also must pass a health policy bill that includes regulations for e-cigarettes.

The Senate passed a medical marijuana bill Tuesday, and the House approved a different version Friday.

That issue wasn't at the top of legislative leaders' to-do lists when the session started in February, but a group of determined advocates, particularly parents of chronically sick children, pushed it onto the front burner.

A turning point came in April when Gov. Mark Dayton, after taking searing criticism from the parents, told lawmakers they "should quit hiding behind their desks and vote on the bill," Bakk said. "I took that seriously.

"I think the advocates for this, especially those families with children with seizure problems, have done a remarkable job getting the attention of the Legislature."

Thissen agreed. "The families that have come down have made a compelling case that has influenced legislators' hearts and minds," he said.

But Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, cautioned the medical marijuana bill may be the hardest legislation to finish.

"There are significant differences between the two bills, there's a lot of passion on both sides of this issue, and we are running out of time," Hann said.

Neither house has passed a bill to fund public construction projects, but versions have moved through committees in both chambers. On Thursday, legislative leaders directed the four top DFLers and Republicans on the bonding committees to negotiate an agreement and bring it to the floors for final votes.

The leaders want the negotiators to wrap it up by early next week.

"But if they can't, at some point Paul (Thissen) and I are going to take the bill and finish it. We're not going to sit around here and wait for those four people in that room all next week."

The bonding bill is always the hardest bill to pass, he said, because it requires a three-fifths super majority, and that takes votes from both parties.

But this year, there appears to be bipartisan support for borrowing $846 million for public works projects. "Everybody wants the bonding bill done," Hann said.

Democratic-Farmer-Labor leaders also plan to spend up to $200 million from the state's $1.2 billion budget surplus on public works. Republicans oppose that proposal but say DFLers can pass it without their votes if they wish.

In a letter to DFL leaders last week, Dayton called that level of spending "excessive." Although he didn't threaten a veto, he could strip projects from the bill to lower the price.

Bakk said DFLers will send him the legislation anyway.

On Thursday, a House-Senate conference committee agreed on a bill that would provide $103 million in tax cuts primarily for homeowners, renters and farmers.

It would be the second round of tax relief this session: Lawmakers approved $447 million in income and sales tax cuts in February.

Both DFL leaders predicted the two houses would pass "Tax Bill 2" with strong bipartisan support, but Thissen said they may "leave it open in case something comes up in the end that we need to address."

That means it could be the last bill they pass.

The other money bill is a $293 million supplemental appropriation measure that includes a 5 perecent rate increase for caregivers for elderly and disabled persons.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Lyndon Carlson, DFL-Crystal, said the two sides are close to an agreement and should have the bill ready for final action next week.